Apple Introduces iPad Air, iPad Mini with Retina Display and More

Apple's iPad event included the introduction of an iPad Air, an iPad Mini with Retina display, and new MacBook Pro and Mac Pro devices.

—New iPad Air—Apple Mini with Retina display—New MacBook Pro—New Mac Pro— OS Mavericks Now available—Improvements to Garage Band, iWork, Keynote and More
Apple's Oct. 22 San Francisco event, at which it was widely expected to introduce new iPads, included not only the introduction of an iPad Air and an iPad Mini with Retina display, but new MacBook Pro laptops, an updated Mac Pro PC, the launch of its Mavericks operating system—which Snow Leopard users can now download for free—and updates to Garage Band, iWork, Keynote and more than 20 apps overall.
Below is a rundown of the goodies.

Meet the Apple iPad Air, iPad Mini With Retina Display

The iPad Air is Apple's fifth generation of its category-defining device. It features a 9.7-inch Retina display, weighs just 1 pound and is 20 percent thinner than the fourth-gen iPad—now 7.5mm, versus 9.4 mm.

"It is so thin, light and powerful, once you hold one in your hand you will understand what a tremendous advancement this is," Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, said in a statement.

The new iPad Mini with Retina display has a 7.9-inch screen, with all the pixels of the 9.7-inch iPad. That is, 3.1 million pixels, for a resolution of 2048 by 1536 pixels.
Both new iPads run Apple's A7 chip with 64-bit, desktop-class architecture; faster built-in WiFi, thanks to multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) technology; expanded Long Term Evolution (LTE) connectivity; and iOS 7, with its hundreds of new features, including iTunes Radio, the iLife suite of productivity apps and an improved Siri.
Apple shrank the bezel on the iPad Air, for Apple says is an "even more immersive" experience, and on the new iPad Mini, it says it delivers 35 percent more screen real estate than on other 7-inch tablets.
Both also have next-generation FaceTime cameras and 5-megapixel iSight cameras.
The iPad Air will be available in silver or space gray on Nov. 1. The WiFi-only model will start at $499, and the WiFi and cellular model (with connectivity from AT&T or Verizon Wireless) at $629.
The iPad Mini with Retina display will arrive in "late November," in silver or gray, and start at $399 for WiFi-only and $529 for WiFi and cellular (from AT&T, Verizon or Sprint).
Apple also introduced new Smart Covers, which start at $39, and Smart Cases that start at $69. It also announced that pricing on the iPad 2 now starts at $399.

New Apple MacBook Pro

Apple updated its MacBook Pros, which of course run OS Mavericks. The 13-inch Pro now weighs 3.46 pounds, is 0.71 inches thin and has a battery that can last through nine hours of iTunes movie playback.